Ethiopia, the second most populous country in Africa, faces a massive internal displacement crisis due to inter-communal violence and conflicts. The displacement crisis started in autumn 2017 and has escalated and spread in the second half of 2018. Meanwhile, there is dramatic political change brought about by the arrival of a new prime minister in 2018, an ongoing refugee influx from South Sudan and Eritrea, and millions of Ethiopians who need emergency food assistance and support to rebuild their livelihoods.

UNHCR Senior Officials, including the Assistant High Commissioner for Operations, visited a site for internally displaced people (IDPs) in South Ethiopia. 2.4 million Ethiopians are currently believed to be IDPs.

Betty G, UNHCR High Profile Supporter and Ethiopian Singer, advocates for refugees’ rights, with a focus on women refugees, after visit to the Aysaita Refugee Camp in Afar As UNHCR works to enhance registration data, the monthly population of concern figures have been frozen as of 31 August 2018, to facilitate the completion of the ongoing Level 3 Registration.

Djibouti – An important seaport country in the Horn of Africa occupied by less than a million people, Djibouti is at the crossroads of one of the most transited and increasingly dangerous migration routes in the world.

With neighbouring Somalia to the Southeast, Ethiopia to the West and South and Eritrea to the North, Djibouti is a patchwork of ethnicities: its citizens descendants of European 19th century settlers, the Afar from Ethiopia, and the French-speaking Somali.

The “third struggle” for freedom in Africa

When the Universal Declaration of Human Rights was adopted by the UN in 1948, much of Africa was still in its first struggle for liberation from colonial rule. Only three African countries were present at the UN for the vote: Egypt, Ethiopia and South Africa. Apartheid South Africa abstained.

In November, 26,000 new displacement were monitored by the UNHCR-led Protection and Returns Monitoring Network (PRMN), a decrease compared to last month. Half of the displacements occurred in Bakool region due to lack of livelihood as pastoralists search for greener pastures. In 2018 so far, PRMN has monitored 858,000 internal displacements due to conflicts, floods and drought.

It is estimated there are 2.6 million internally displaced people in Somalia.

Every day, an additional 110,000 people are forced into water scarcity: WaterAid

A new ranking by WaterAid of developing countries shows where millions of people are already losing their right to water, increasing their vulnerability to the impact of climate change.

Sudan, Niger and Pakistan are the top 3 countries with the most threatened water supply, based on new analysis of Notre Dame Global Adaptation Initiative measures of access to water, climate patterns and water usage rates.

The Peace and Security Council of the African Union (AU), at its 811th meeting held on 22 November 2018, adopted the following decision on the activities of the AU High-Level Implementation Panel (AUHIP) for Sudan and South Sudan and the Horn of Africa:

Since the beginning of this year Ethiopia has more new conflict-driven Internally Displaced Persons (IDPs) than any other country in the world, with over 1.4 million in 2018. Of the approximately 2.8 million total IDPs in Ethiopia, over 2.2 million are displaced due to conflict with the over 500,000 remaining displaced by climatic shocks, including drought- and flood-induced food insecurity. An estimated 7.9 million people in Ethiopia are in need of emergency food assistance, with those internally displaced being some of the most affected.